


Hints of Vanilla

by Robiness



Series: 13 (Oops, I mean 7) Shots for Fair Game (Valentine's Day 2020) [4]
Category: RWBY
Genre: A Touch of Conflict, Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - Modern: No Powers, Attempt at Humor, Bets, Clover Ebi is a Sweetheart, Clover Ebi is shamelessly gay for Qrow, Hate Comments Against Ice Cream Flavours, Ice Cream Parlors, Light-Hearted, M/M, Qrow Branwen is a mess, Teasing
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-14
Updated: 2020-02-14
Packaged: 2021-02-22 14:21:19
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,162
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22717411
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Robiness/pseuds/Robiness
Summary: Clover wants two things:1. Qrow to stop judging his ice cream choices2. A date with Qrow
Relationships: Qrow Branwen/Clover Ebi
Series: 13 (Oops, I mean 7) Shots for Fair Game (Valentine's Day 2020) [4]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1633228
Comments: 23
Kudos: 131





	Hints of Vanilla

**Author's Note:**

> Hello, it's Valentine's Day somewhere. Since I'm single and Fair Game trash, I decided to give myself a little writing challenge.
> 
> Rules:  
> 1\. Upload 13 COMPLETE works. (No updating current works, no starting new works)  
> 2\. I can only work on the next fic after I upload the previous one.  
> 3\. Deadline: Feb 14, 23:59 in Pago Pago, American Samoa (last inhabited time zone of the world)  
> 4\. Any editing will be done ONLY AFTER I upload all thirteen fics. (aka incentive, bc I will spend days after uploads just nitpicking)  
> 5\. Breaks are fine!! But no working on other fics during those breaks >:)
> 
> So yeah, I hate myself but I love Fair Game!! Enjoy!! They deserve this!! We deserve this!!

Qrow smirked at Clover from behind the counter. “May I have your order, sir?” he asked with an amused grin, gesturing to the tubs of ice cream on display.

“I...um…” Normally, Clover Ebi wasn’t a nervous kind of guy, but he was already starting to get desperate after weeks of this treatment from his fellow muay thai club member.

Also, it seems that their whole friend group enjoyed watching the show and made it a habit. The show entitled Dumb Jock Pines for Trash, if one listened to Qrow’s twin sister Raven.

“You can do it, Clover!” Elm cheered, much to his consternation. “You’ll get him this time!”

“Sir,” Qrow drawled. “You are holding up the line.”

Clover quickly glanced behind him only to see no one, and Qrow snorted. 

He tried to glare, but his heart wasn't really in it. _Okay, Ebi. You got this. People have called you smart, right?_

“...Bubblegum. I’ll have bubblegum.”

Customer service smile back on, Qrow asked him sweetly. “One scoop of bubblegum, is that right, sir?”

_Damn it, he’s doing the thing. The thing where he asks again so that I doubt myself._

“Yes?” Clover croaked. 

“Coming right up!”

“Oh man, are you sweating?” Marrow called out. 

Clover shot him a glare. “If you really want to know, I _will_ make you dry out the mats next week, Marrow.”

“Sorry, captain! You go, captain!”

“Here you go, sir!” Qrow said, stabbing a spoon into his serving. Clover took it, and waited expectantly. 

When Qrow just smiled at him with that creepy, placid smile, Clover sighed. “Lay it on me, then.”

He could literally feel everyone behind him holding their breath. Well, except Raven, who preferred a good eye-roll that could be felt by the whole world if she wanted. 

“Our bubblegum selection is the best in the city, of course.” Then, the empty smile transformed into a shit-eating grin. “ _If_ you forget about how those gum chunks will stay in your gut forever, you idiot.”

Clover groaned, banging his head right there on the cash register. Summer giggled, probably collecting her winnings from Vine, Harriet, Marrow and Tai. 

“No fair, you two are close! You probably know!” Marrow complained. 

Summer tutted. “Clover and Qrow are close, too. I’m just clairvoyant!”

A hand clapped his back, and Clover looked up to see Qrow looking at him fondly, hat and apron off. 

“You can always give up, you know,” Qrow murmured. “No big deal.”

Clover stood up and shook his head. “Nah, it’s worth it.”

* * *

Every Wednesday and Friday, Clover went to the ice cream shop near their university. He didn't really invest in sweets, but Qrow had started working there part-time a few months back, and, well... he invested in Qrow. A lot.

This tradition of Clover ordering a random flavour to gain the employee's approval began around the same time. He had gone there alone to wait for Qrow's shift to finish, when he decided to order a scoop on a whim.

“I thought you didn’t eat ice cream?” Qrow asked when his turn came up. 

Clover shrugged. “I’ve heard good things. Also, the view from here’s pretty nice.” He winked.

“You’re lucky I’m not allowed to hit customers. What do you want then?”

“Hmm… any recommendations?”

Qrow rolled his eyes. “Yeah, if I was paid more, sure.”

“Uh, mint, then. One scoop.”

Scrunching his nose, Qrow served it up. “Enjoy your _cold toothpaste_ , you heathen.”

Clover blinked. “So you’re allowed to insult customers?”

He laughed when Qrow stuck out his tongue, and then made a show of getting a tiny scoop from his cup. “Come on, Qrow, it’s not that bad. I kinda like it, actually.”

“Again, you are a heathen. Now shoo.”

* * *

This repeated a few times. Clover would come, order something random, and Qrow would give a disparaging comment about the flavour _after_ Clover had paid for it. 

“This is why I asked for recommendations the first time!” he cried, after Qrow handed him a scoop of orange sherbet ice cream and a muttered _“Only jocks would like frozen kids medicine, I suppose”_.

“I’m Clover and I need my hand held in order to make good dessert decisions,” Qrow mocked, eyes twinkling.

Clover put a hand in his hip. “The ones I got were good! Have you even tried them?”

The employee made a gagging sound, which Clover was sure he wasn’t allowed to do in front of customers. 

“I will order something you approve of,” he decided. "Just you wait."

“Oh yeah?”

“Yeah, I swear. I’ll even bet you on it.”

Red eyes flashed in interest. “I’ll hear your terms later. There are other customers. Don't you dare weasel out of this, Ebi.”

And so it began. Soon enough, all their friends came to witness Clover’s defeat. Over and over again.

“Why are you doing this again?” Raven asked after the fourteenth failure.

Clover knew she knew, and knew that she was trying to make him think this was a lost cause, but it _wasn’t_. “I get a date with him if I win.”

Raven looked a lot like Qrow whenever they thought the person they were talking to was stupid, though Clover would never tell either of them that. “And spending a ton of cash every week is worth that?”

“Yes,” he insisted, crossing his arms the way he always did when she was getting too disapproving of Qrow in his presence.

Harriet leaned back to join in. “Why don’t you just ask him out every week instead of this? You’d save more money that way, and you can splurge when he says yes. We all know it's inevitable anyway, so what's the point?”

“The point is these are _his_ terms, and it’s _worth it._ ” Clover ignored the exasperated look the two exchanged. 

* * *

For all his big talk and confidence, it still sucked when he got it wrong for the gazillionth time.

Mango: “You know that’s probably all flavouring, right? The mangoes in this country suck. You can’t ever be sure that there are actual fruits in any of these.”

Coffee: “Yeah, so that the sugar crash can neutralize the effects of the coffee. It’s so stupidly _pointless._ ”

Caramel butterscotch: “Diabetes wasn’t enough, you want your teeth to fall out as you eat, too? Real cute, big guy.”

Kiwi: "That's just water with a bit of fiber. You're paid 20% more than the regular flavours for _water and fiber._ "

And so on and so forth.

Still, no one ever called Clover a quitter.

* * *

On the memorable day Clover ordered vanilla, Qrow looked him up and down. “Seems about right,” he said, and left it at that. Raven and Harriet wouldn’t stop laughing about it, and he felt vaguely insulted, but mostly miserable.

* * *

After the bubblegum trial, Clover walked Qrow back to the dorms. As always, Qrow insisted that Clover didn’t need to carry his stuff, and Clover insisted that he wanted to while lifting them up in the air where Qrow couldn’t reach. 

“Tiny,” Clover chuckled once Qrow gave up with a huff.

“You’re not that much taller than me.”

He ruffled the already-messy hair. “I don’t know, maybe all that extra calcium is helping out.”

Qrow sighed. “You really should quit already, Clover. I don’t even want to think about how much you’ve spent in total, it’s making me feel guilty.”

“It’s fine, I have enough,” Clover assured him, his smile coming easy. “I’m a big boy, I can make my own decisions.”

“It’s not worth it.” Qrow exhaled sharply. “You win, okay? I’ll go out with you.”

Clover furrowed his eyebrows. “That doesn’t feel like winning. I mean, I’m alright with calling it quits if it really bothers you, but…”

“Changed your mind, huh?”

“Qrow.”

“I’m sorry, I’m sorry. It’s just, it was a fun thing, you know?” Out of nowhere, he groaned and sat on the ground. Clover stopped as well. “But the others have been on my case about it, and…”

“By the others, do you mean Raven?”

“ _Duh._ Well, Tai’s been talking to me, too, though, and Vine keeps judging me…”

“...Vine? Are you sure?”

That got a snort out of Qrow. “Well, maybe not. But sometimes he seems to stare into my soul, you know!”

Clover hummed, sitting on the curb next to him. “Summer seems to be enjoying.”

“Well yeah, she’s probably earned what you spent.” Another sigh. “Look, Clover, I know you’re… well-off, but…”

“But?” Honestly, if this whole thing really bothered Qrow, then Clover would stop. Simple as that. He’d find some other way to get a date with him, _and_ sate the burning curiosity of what Qrow would approve of. If the gig’s over, he’d just bribe Raven. She’d milk him dry, but hey, information about Qrow. 

“But… I don’t like ice cream.”

Clover stared at him. “What?”

Qrow bit his lip. “I’m probably lactose intolerant.”

“ _What_?”

“I said probably! I’ve never had it checked, though.” Qrow closed his eyes as if in pain. “Clover, I’m really, really sorry, but I thought you’d figure it out early on! But then you didn’t, then it dragged on for so long, and… I didn’t know how to spring it on you.”

“So you offered a chance to date you… as a prank?” God, that was the most and worst no homo of all no homos.

“No, you dunderhead, we both know there’s been something going on,” Qrow snapped. Then he curled into himself and continued in a lower volume. “But… I don’t know. I wanted to see if you’d _do_ it, how far you would go…” He looked really distressed at this point. “And then you… didn’t stop. It’s stupid."

Clover slung an arm around Qrow. “Hey, in that case, it’s all good.”

“In what case? In the case where I trick you into spending on a crapload of ice cream because I’m too insecure to manage actual relationships?”

He tried to hold back his laughter, but he failed. When Qrow shot him a betrayed look, he totally lost it. “No, no, no, wait. Stop hitting me! All I’m saying is…” He shot a smile at his companion. “If it proved to you how much I really want to date you, then it’s all good. Still worth it, you know?”

Qrow wrapped his arms around his knees and hid his face. “It also proved you’re kinda dumb,” he whispered, muffled. The tips of his ears were red, though, so Clover just pulled him closer.

“So we’re good?”

“Only because you’re _dumb_.”

“I’ll take that, I _do_ need some stuff clarified.”

Qrow lifted his head, but just shifted into hiding against Clover’s chest. 

Clover’s heart skipped a beat, and he hoped Qrow felt it if it would make him believe in Clover's interest more. 

“Okay, so. Three questions.” Qrow waited. 

“Most urgent and important,” he began. “Does this mean I can date you now and drown you with my witty pick-up lines?”

“Only if I actually drown,” Qrow replied, though he intertwined his fingers with Clover’s free hand. “Yeah.”

Clover couldn’t stop his whoop of joy, and he was pretty sure his squeezing was getting painful, but Qrow didn’t complain.

Qrow did hit him after he ripped his hand away to pump his fist in the air, but it was Qrow’s fault that he couldn’t contain his joy right now. So. Suck it up.

“Stop, you’re going to wake up the whole street.” 

Clover humoured him, even though he was also fighting a smile. “Okay, okay. Two. Do you have _any_ desserts that you like? Anything I should keep in mind?”

There was a murmur. “Sorry, I didn’t catch that?”

“I said I like popsicles. The ones at the parlor are good.”

Clover couldn’t believe his ears. “You bullied me for months about all those perfectly good flavours, and you’re telling me now that you like _frozen sugar water_?”

“Please keep quiet.”

“I can’t believe this.” They stayed quiet for a bit, then… “Really? Frozen sugar water? Sugar ice? Water with a sprinkle of sugar set in subzero temperatures?”

“God, just get to the third question already!”

“Alright,” Clover relented, though he _would_ bring that up again later. As often as he can get away with. “So you said you’re guilty about the whole thing…”

Qrow nodded, matching the shift in mood.

“...And that you were really trying to figure out a way to let me off the hook…”

Another nod. 

“And I assume you were sorry for what I had to do…”

“Yes,” Qrow whispered. “What’s wrong? Are you mad?”

“All I want to ask is… where was all that sympathy when you _forced_ me to finish that cup of chili ice cream? And then when I waited for your verdict, you just walked away without a word?”

“Oh. Well. I... I was… going to wallow in my guilt in private?”

“I could hear you cackling from the employee room, Qrow, we all could! Hey, answer me! Qrow! Come back here!”

**Author's Note:**

> I'm a basic vanilla hoe, what about you? Valentine's Day just ended in my time zone. We had an ice cream cake that was way too sweet.
> 
> Tumblr: [robiness](https://robiness.tumblr.com/)


End file.
